Why Rogue One Improves A New Hope

Warning: MAJOR spoilers for Rogue One ahead, don't read any further if you haven't seen the latest Star Wars movie!

Gareth Edwards' Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has an absolutely insane responsibility on its hands. Not only must it tell a gripping standalone story, but it must also do so while setting up the events of the original Star Wars trilogy in a logical and respectful way. We have seen what happens when prequels set in the Star Wars universe go awry, and all eyes are on Rogue One to be the first genuinely great Star Wars film to not center on Luke, Han, and Leia. That's a tall order for a beloved franchise.

With a great sense of relief I can confirm that Gareth Edwards has most certainly pulled it off. Not only is Rogue One a great Star Wars movie, but its inclusion in the Star Wars canon also retroactively improves a number things that aren't quite right in A New Hope. We have compiled a few of our favorite improvements, make sure to check them out and let us know what you think in the comments section below! Now let's get started with the fact that Rogue One definitively retcons one of A New Hope's biggest narrative weaknesses.

Rogue One Rationalizes A New Hope's Biggest Plot Holes

A large number of people saw this revelation coming, as the backstory of Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) became more and more fleshed out over the course of Rogue One's marketing campaign. But it's still a complete and utter slam dunk for the film. For years Star Wars fans have lamented the fact that the Death Star's weakness seems so easy to exploit, but Rogue One effectively ties that particular narrative issue into the overarching plot of the series. By making the bizarre exhaust port weakness an intentional design flaw, Rogue One takes the events of A New Hope and adds new layers of complexity by showing us that people inside the infrastructure of The Empire were working to bring down the battle station. That's a retcon at its finest.